Tuning out

October 5, 2010

Aaron Brown, the former CNN reporter now teaching journalism in Arizona, had some crisp things to say about the state of TV news when he returned to his old haunt in Seattle. Brown, who used to work for KING-TV and KIRO-TV, spoke this week to the Municipal League of King County.

In his column on the speech, Joel Connelly (of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) quotes him, “Do you realize that 90 percent of what’s on news today is embarrassing, not only to Mrs. Bullitt [long-time owner of KING] were she still alive but to those of us who worked in the business.”

And: “How should viewers respond to demagoguery on their screens? Turn off your TV, Brown advised.”